Not the Only One
by JWolf28
Summary: I always knew I was different. I was a foster kid bounced around the system with ADHD, but that wasn't quite it. I am insanely smart and not afraid to flaunt it. I kind of always thought that I was the only one like that, but then I met Tony Stark. He understood me. A/N: Will include other Avengers later.
1. Prologue

Prologue

I'm not like most people. I'll start there. I have an insanely high IQ. Like, really, really high. I was taking high school courses when I was ten years old type high. I don't know why I'm so smart, but I am.

I suppose math and science are my best subjects, but that's probably because building is my thing. I started this when I was about three. My foster mom left me at home with my foster-brother and the idiot didn't watch me so when my foster mom came home, I had taken my foster father's tool box and completely disassembled their boom box. Now, that would have been bad, but using a few parts from around the house, I turned the boom box into a TV. While that would have been amazing in its own, I also made an antenna to go with it. The look of surprise on their faces is still with me.

My name is Alice Lovegreen and I am seventeen years old. My parents gave me up for adoption mere moments after my birth and I was supposed to be adopted, but my lungs were underdeveloped and after all the surgeries, I was almost four so no one wanted me, plus I had ADHD and that didn't exactly help my case.. I was being tossed around the foster system when I decided that emancipation was the way to go. My parents had both signed away their rights to me when they gave me up, so all I had to do was apply.

This whole story starts before that, though. I was fifteen and working my way through my first year of college. Oh, yeah, I was well on my way to having a master's before I could even drink. I did duel enrollment in high school, but that's irrelevant; just me flaunting me marvelous brain. Anyway, I was juggling college, the part-time job I had recently gotten, and my foster dad's alcoholism. He would bug me for money to buy a beer, I would throw a cup of water in his face and tell him to sober up. Most of the time he would listen too.

Dave wasn't a bad guy, he just had some serious issues. His parents disowned him and his wife left him and took the dog and the kids. I was with them at the time and I don't think he would have made it without me there. It's a shame though, I really liked that dog.

Again, I digress. So, it all really started after I got my job. I was working at a bank as a secretary. I wasn't even going to think about staying there though. Banking was so not for me. I was taking courses in psychology and engineering, what good was banking? However, it was through banking that I met Tony Stark. Someone who knew what I was going through. Someone I could trust. Someone like me.

**A/N: So, whatcha think? Please leave a comment and let me know if I should continue it. I don't own the Avengers or its characters, yadda, yadda, yadda.**


	2. First Meeting

I can remember when I met Tony like it was yesterday. I was sitting at my desk, waiting for something to happen when he walked in. I knew him right off the bat. How could I not know Iron Man? I remember watching with interest as he walked up to my desk and looked down at me. He frowned. "You're not the usual secretary. What happened to her? I liked her."

"She got let go."

"Why?"

I looked around to make sure there was no one else in the room. I wasn't supposed to gossip. "According to a few rumors I've heard, she slept with the boss' husband, son, and nephew."

Tony chuckled and sighed. "Oh, well, she did seem kind of dim. Why are you working here? You look young."

I shrugged and sighed. "It was the only place that would hire me. I'm just trying to work my through college."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "College? You look way too young for college."

"I'm smarter than other people."

"And how old are you?"

"I'm fifteen."

This made both his eyebrows rise. "Fifteen? Wow. So, do you like working here? Because I need a new assistant. I made my other assistant my CEO so I'm in the market for a new one. I get the feeling we would get along really well. Plus, I'll let you work your schedule around your classes."

I bit my lip. "I don't know. I thought you had that red-headed chick working for you."

"She quit after the whole incident with guy that built the droids."

I sighed. "I'll turn in an application to your company and if you accept, I'll give my boss my two weeks notice. She's a terrible boss anyway; always yelling at me for not working as often as she'd like."

Tony sighed and nodded. "So, I need to go talk to your boss. I have an appointment."

"Okay." I pressed the intercom and cringed at Ms. Gonzalez's voice shouting at me over the speaker. "What do you want now?"

"A Mr. Stark is here to see you. He says he has an appointment."

"Just send him already."

"Yes, ma'am." I buzzed Tony in and sauntered through the door.

Almost an hour later, Tony exited Ms. Gonzalez's office. He stopped by my desk on the way out. "So, I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Alice Lovegreen."

"Okay, Alice, well, I turned in your two weeks notice to your boss. I look forward to seeing you at Stark Tower on next Tuesday."

"Wait, you're not kidding? You're serious?"

"As a heart attack. Come in at, say, twelve; if you don't have class that is. You know what, just come in sometime after ten AM next Tuesday. Sound good?"

"Um, I guess."

"Great. I'll tell Pepper she can stop interviewing people. Oh, by the way, how do you feel about working with machines and tools?"

"I'm taking courses in engineering."

"Perfect! I'll see you then."

He grinned and left and I put my head on the desk. Ms. Gonzalez was going to give me a mouthful. Although, on the bright side, I would be working with Tony Stark in two short weeks AND he was willing to work with my school schedule. It was every student's dream come true.

**A/N: Review, follow, and favorite please. Feel free to leave ideas and criticism. I still don't own the Avengers.**


	3. First Day

When I showed up for work on that first day, I had no idea what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting what I found. I was let into Tony's office at around one in the afternoon where I met Pepper Potts. She smiled at me from behind Tony's desk. Or, what used to be Tony's desk.

"Hi, I'm Pepper Potts, you must Alice. Tony told me he chose you to be his assistant. He wasn't kidding when he said you were young, was he."

I smiled. "I'm fifteen. Mr. Stark told me he thought Stark Tower would be a good place for me to work while I go to school."

"I'm going to guess that you're a…" Pepper put on a thoughtful look. "A junior in high school."

I grinned. "I'm on my first year of college, Ms. Potts."

"I guess Tony wasn't kidding when he said you were a genius either."

I smiled and Pepper laughed and shook her head. "Tony's training at his in-house gym now, but I could give him a call if you'd like."

I nodded and only fifteen minutes later, I was basking in the glory of Tony's mansion. Pepper took me to the floor that Tony was on and when I got off the elevator, Tony turned toward me. His coach tried to hit him when his back was turned, but Tony turned at the last second and beat the coach into a corner.

Tony jumped over the ropes and smiled at me. "Nice to see you again, Alice. You're in earlier than I expected."

"Class got out an hour earlier. Someone decided to pull the fire alarm so they could streak in front of a bunch of college students. I don't think the guy was expecting all the cops-in-training to tackle him and handcuff him to a pole until the actual authorities got there."

Tony laughed and even Pepper smiled. Tony shook his head. "College kids, huh. Anyway, you ready to get to work? I have something that I've been wanting to work on, but I need assistance from someone with training. I take it you got the message about not wearing, you know, fancy clothes."

"Yeah, these are the jeans I wore in the shop when I took Auto Tech last year."

Tony nodded. "Cool. Pepper, you can get back to work. I'll put Alice to good use."

Pepper rolled her eyes and left the room after giving Tony a kiss on the cheek. Tony smiled and motioned for me to follow him. He led me to a room down the hall where I almost passed out from sheer amazement at the sight of the best of the best of technical equipment, some of which I'd bet my bottom dollar cost more than Dave's house.

Tony laughed at the look on my face. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you haven't seen this stuff before."

"Not this upgraded or expensive. Most of this equipment is better than the stuff I've seen in shops that I've visited all over the state."

"I'm glad you appreciate it. Nobody else does. Pepper doesn't really care about the machines that make the stuff and Natalie didn't know what any of it was. I'll go change and be back in roughly 2.5 minutes. Feel free to take a look around."

When Tony had left the room, I walked through the shop, taking a good look at the numerous cars he had. I jumped when a piece of machinery holding a fire extinguisher moved towards me. I looked at it a bit closer and let out a small shout when it sprayed me with the fire extinguisher. Tony came back into the room in jeans and a tee-shirt and glared at the robot. "How many times do I have to tell you not spray guests, Dummy? Do that one more time and I will take you apart and use you for scraps."

The robot, Dummy, moved away and I laughed. "I have to say that this is already the most interesting job I've had."

"Not every day a robot thinks you're on fire?"

"Nope. I don't think that's ever happened."

"You must have had some really boring jobs then, kid."

"At least I got free hot dogs when I worked at the hot dog stand."

Tony considered this and nodded. "Free hot dogs do sound like a plus."

I laughed and stayed until ten that night working with Tony on his newest Iron Man suit.

**A/N: Please review, follow, or favorite.**


	4. Second Chance

After I had been working with Tony for about year, I went to court to try to become an emancipated minor. I had a job with a steady income and Tony had offered to let me stay at Stark Tower. Tony and Pepper both decided that they would go with me on my day in court.

Things went well at first. I had told the judge that I was working with Tony and had a place that I planned to rent. In the corner of my eye, I saw Tony roll his eyes. He wanted to let me stay for free, but I insisted. The judge listened to it all and I daresay he looked impressed. After I finished he looked at me and I knew that everything was going to go wrong. "So, you mean to tell me that you work for Mr. Stark and you plan to live in his tower as well?"

"Yes, your honor."

The judge looked conflicted for a moment before he turned his gaze to Pepper and Tony. "If I remember correctly, you are both registered foster parents. You had a young boy that lost his parents during the mess with Hammer stay with you."

They both nodded. "Then, Ms. Lovegreen may as well stay with you as her guardian." He banged his gavel. "Court adjourned."

I sat down hard on my chair. My only chance at freedom had just been eliminated because they were registered as foster parents? I heard Pepper sigh, but she didn't seem to argue. After a few moments, I felt her hand on my shoulder. "Come on, Alice. Let's go home."

I didn't argue; I was too put out for that. On the ride back to what was soon to be my new home, I decided that I ought to make the best of it. I was going to get to live in Stark Tower. Tony was going to be my new dad and Pepper my mom. Of the situations, I couldn't say that this was the worst. No, not the worst at all. I could have been sent back to the Jefferson's, the people who tried to beat me senseless. Or the Starr's where they just completely ignored her. Of all the foster parents in the world, Tony and Pepper would probably be among the best.

I had been staying with Tony for a few weeks when the guy with the eye patch first showed up. I was working on a paper for my linguistics class when he entered the room. He looked at me, his eye slightly narrowed, but he didn't say a word as he went to the workshop where Tony currently was. I just worked with him when I felt like it now. We had come to the silent agreement that I wouldn't be paid anymore as he was my foster dad. I would just work as I felt in the mood. Generally whenever I wasn't working on homework.

The guy came out almost an hour later when I had switched from Linguistics to my Calculus III course work. He strode away angrily and Tony came out a moment later with a frown. He looked to me with an unusually insecure expression. "You like it here, right?"

I laughed. "Duh. How could I not? I get to work with Tony Stark whenever I want and live in his tower while I go to college. I am literally living the dream right now. Well, my dream anyway."

Tony smiled, the cocky look back. "That's what I thought. What was that guy thinking? He thought someone like you wouldn't want to live with a technological genius like me. I mean, really. Your studying engineering, why wouldn't you want to be there. What are you working on?"

I grinned. "Calculus. It sucks, but I love it."

"I felt the same way. What are you guys studying now?"  
"Applications of Partial Derivatives."

Tony laughed. "I do not envy you."  
I shrugged. "I kind of like it. I guess I just like math."

Tony nodded. "I get it."

**A/N: As usual, I would love a few reviews and I don't own the Avengers, though I desperately, desperately wish I did. Oh well, c****'est la vie.**


	5. A Special Surprise

**A/N: So, since I need a bit of a filler before I get to where I really want to go with this, you get some fluff. Enjoy.**

I woke up as I did any other day, and took a shower and drank some coffee made by the cappuccino machine Tony had installed on my floor. I didn't expect anything special for the day. I had stopped expecting even a 'happy birthday' unless it was my caseworker. Birthday presents were something I didn't even dream of having and a cake was unheard of in my world. I hadn't seen my sixteenth birthday as something important despite the popular 'sweet sixteen' thing, so why was seventeen any different. I just didn't see the point.

After enjoying my coffee, I grabbed my bag before making my way to the elevator. "Hey, JARVIS, could you tell Tony and Pepper that I'm leaving?"

"Of course, Ms. Lovegreen."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. And happy birthday."

I raised my eyebrows. "Thanks again… I guess."  
I stood in silence for a moment before JARVIS spoke again. "Ms. Potts said to tell you to stop on the tenth floor. She needs to speak to you."

"Okay. Could you reroute me?"

"Yes, Ms. Lovegreen."

I smiled to Pepper as I got off on the specified floor. "What'd you need to talk to me about?"

"I just wanted to know where you were going."

"I have to get a lab time in today for one of my classes so I was going to head over to the campus."

Pepper frowned and wrinkled her brow in confusion. "But, isn't today your birthday?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"Don't you want to do something?"

"I haven't done anything for my birthday since I bought myself a cupcake and stuck a candle in it when I was seven. I guess that makes it exactly a decade, huh."

Pepper frowned harder. "You don't celebrate your birthday?"

"I just don't see the point. I guess I just didn't bother to look for it after nobody bothered to say anything to me. What's the point of celebrating a day if there's no one to celebrate with? And I don't celebrate anything else either."

"No Christmas, no Easter, not even Thanksgiving?"

"Nope. I just see it as a day off school. In some places, even that wasn't a good thing."

Pepper pouted slightly and I laughed. "I don't see what you're so worked up about. Holidays are just an excuse to spend money on people you otherwise wouldn't give a thought to."

Tony came into the room, raising an eyebrow. "If that's how you think, we are going to have to fix you."

I smiled. "What exactly are you going to do? I don't celebrate; I don't see what's wrong with that."

"There's nothing wrong with it per se, but it's really wrong. You're a teenager for God's sake. Are teenagers supposed to love free stuff?"

"I don't get free stuff. I've learned that everything comes with a price."

"Yes, maybe, but not you're birthday!"

Tony strode across the room and threw his arms around my shoulders, gesturing for Pepper to do the same. "We are going to go out and celebrate your birthday properly. I used to forget birthdays and do absolutely nothing for them. Through much trial and even more error, Pepper has shown me where I went wrong. You are going to have a birthday whether you like it or not. You're my foster daughter after all. Don't I have the right to spoil you with my billions?"

They dragged me to the elevator and my bag was dropped somewhere along the way. "I guess…"

Tony grinned. "I'm glad you agree. Now, did you eat breakfast?"

"No. I usually pick something up on the way to school when I go."

"Well, that's where we'll start." Tony looked to his fiancée. "Pepper, I need you to cancel all our appointments today."

Pepper nodded and set to work as I tried to process what was happening. They were taking me out to breakfast? You'd think a girl with a genius IQ would be able to see that they were showing me they cared.

As it turned out, breakfast turned into an all day spoil Alice affair. They took me to my favorite restaurant for breakfast, then Pepper said my closet needed an update and Tony forced me on a shopping spree and that took hours. After that, we went to lunch and Tony insisted on going to the amusement park he had heard an ad for and after a few hours, he took me to a book store after it had come up that I had read everything in my bookshelf. That didn't take so long, and Pepper had the idea to go ice skating. Tony agreed once I admitted that I had never been. After that, Tony suggested going for laser tag and as I hadn't done that either, I wasn't going to argue. We went to a pizza place after the idea of shwarma was rejected and then we went to see a move directly afterword, where I forced to get candy and soda. Once we were finished there, Tony suggested bowling and wouldn't take no for an answer no matter how hard I tried.

It was in the bowling alley that, in those hideous shoes, Tony brought up the idea of adoption. Yes, he said, he knew I was almost a legal adult, but I had been living with him Pepper for just under a year and none of us saw me moving out anytime soon, so why not make it official? It was the best present I could ever get and one I wasn't even going to think about refusing.

On the couch back home (I had a home!), once I had taken a shower and changed into my pajamas, I fell asleep as Tony put on a movie. Not long later, I came to the surface of consciousness and realized that someone was carrying me. This confused me for a moment. I wasn't exactly tall, but I wasn't small either, being a happy medium at five four and a half. A second later, I was in my bed and I could've sworn I felt a kiss on the top of my head a moment before Tony's distinctive voice wished me a happy birthday. The covers were pulled up around me, and it wasn't long until I was asleep again.

**A/N: Questions, comments, concerns?**


	6. Taken

I woke up feeling happier than I have since I realized how nice it was to be living with Tony and Pepper. I got up and went through my usual morning routine, desperate to get those lab hours in today. I told JARVIS my plans and he agreed to tell Pepper and Tony. I hung around the lab on campus for a few hours, working on this and that. I was almost to my car when a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed my neck. There was a slight pinch in my arm and then everything went black.

When I woke up, a man stood in front of the chair I was tied to. I instantly recognized him as Justin Hammer, the man who had gotten mixed up with the Russia that tried to kill Tony. The man Pepper had gotten arrested. I knew I was in a deep pile of crap right then and there. Hammer smiled, seemingly amiable at me. "Ms. Lovegreen, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've read a lot about you in the papers. First you were Stark's assistant after the first bitch was promoted and the second quit. Then, suddenly," He pretended to gasp. "You're his foster kid. I must say, you must be smart or very, very unfortunate to have Tony let you live with him. I mean, the guy's terrible. Doesn't care about people unless he's directly involved in something bad in their life."

I gritted my teeth. "That's a lie. Tony cares about me."

Hammer gestured around the room. "Then, where is he? You've been her for almost twenty-four hours, Hon, and he's nowhere to be seen."

"I'm not always home. He probably thinks I stayed with a friend."

"You do that often? Not tell people where you're going."

"No. I'd assume Tony was worried, but Pepper can keep him calm sometimes."

"So you don't think he's looking for you?"

I pressed a button on the side of my watch. "Oh, he's definitely looking for me now."

Hammer frowned. "Why do you say that?"

I gestured to my watch. "Built in panic button. I designed it; Tony and I built it. He wanted to make sure that I didn't get into any trouble."

Hammer yanked the watch off my wrist and I could see cracks in his calm façade. He smashed my watch under his foot and I pouted. "Do you know how hard that was to build? Not very, but it did work well for the short time I had it. Unlike Hammer tech. Your stuff is complete and utter crap."

Hammer sneered at me. "And you think you can to better?"

"Oh, I know I can. I've been building since I was three."

"Oh, I see how it is. Well, then, unless you want me to kill you, you're going to make me an Iron Man suit."

I shook my head. "No, not happening."

"And why not? I said I would kill you."

"Yeah, I'm not deaf. I don't care if you kill me; I'm not going to build you a suit. Plus, you'll probably kill me either way and if I build you a suit, you just use it against Tony. And he's not my foster father. He's just my father. He's adopting me, so keep your stupid mouth shut and we won't have a problem."

Hammer looked about ready to blow and he snapped to a guard that was standing to the other side of the room. The guard looked at me for a second before pulling his fist back and slamming it into my face in a shocking blow that took my breath away and split my lip. I smiled up and Hammer and spit blood in his face, purposefully being terrible. "Is that all you got?"

Hammer snarled and gestured to the guard, who punched me again, this time in the rib cage. When I cringed and coughed, Hammer smiled, probably thinking I was going to give in, but I leaned back in the chair and kept my mouth shut. I wasn't going to give in. I needed to be strong. At least until I was alone. Then, I could use another piece of tech I had hidden on my clothes to call Tony and get him to pick me up. I didn't realize what would happen in between the time Hammer was there and when he left.

* * *

I gagged, choking more water onto the floor. "Have we reconsidered?"

I looked away, still not giving in. I wasn't going to make a suit so he could use it to terrorize the people I cared about. I knew for a fact that he would kill me either way and I wasn't going to go with the coward's way out. No, I had to be calm.

Hammer shook his head and the guard forced me under the water again. I held my breath for as long as I could, but again, it wasn't enough and I ended up swallowing more water than I'd have liked. Once I was pulled out, I vomited water and waited for the torture to be over. It wasn't long until I was too weak to do anything but lay complacently on the floor until the forced my head back into the tub. Their torture tries had been unsuccessful and I had to say I was rather proud that I had help out this long. I had no clue how many hours I been doing this, but it felt like forever.

Hammer made a disgusted noise and left me on the floor, walking out of the room with his guard. I quickly pulled a small disk out of my back pocket and put it into one of the computers Hammer had so stupidly left in the room with me. It was like a thumb drive that would load an almost unnoticeable virus onto the system. JARVIS would be alerted and trace the virus and Tony would come get me. I hoped. The panic button let Tony know that I was in trouble, but it didn't tell him where I was and JARVIS may be too busy to notice the virus. All I could do was pray.

Just in case, though, I hacked into the computer and sent Tony an e-mail telling him the Hammer had taken me and was holding me until I built him a suit. I didn't mention that I'd been tortured. That might make Tony a bit too angry.

I had just hit the send key when I felt a hand on my shoulder and Hammer's angry growl in my ear. "And just what do you think you're doing?"

**A/N: Duhn, duhn, duhhhhhh. Folks, we have a cliffhanger. Please review and let me knew whatcha think.**


	7. Found

Hammer moved his hand from my shoulder to the back of my neck, squeezing hard enough to hurt. I gasped in pain and Hammer slung me to the floor, my head colliding painfully against the concrete. I blacked out for a second and when I came to, Hammer was above me, a terrible sneer on his face. "What have you done?"

Time to bluff. "I uploaded a virus onto your system. It'll all be down by tomorrow. Hammer Industries is toast."

He sent a kick to my ribs. "Why would you do that?" Each work was punctuated with a kick and when I felt something snap, someone screamed. It took me a minute to realize that it had been me. I curled one arm around my middle, trying to stop the pain that radiated from there and Hammer roughly brought his foot down on my other wrist. There was a second snap and I screamed again.

Hammer grabbed a fistful of my hair and brought my face close to his. "SHUT UP! Screaming won't make it better!"

Hammer hauled me to my feet and I sobbed when the pain in my midsection tripled in intensity. Stomping on Hammer's instep, I made a mad dash for the door, running up the stairs the door led to. Several flights of stairs later, I was on the roof of the building. When the door opened again, I ducked behind several crates, the wind blowing my long blonde hair this way and that.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are. I know you're up here, Alice. I know you didn't go downstairs. Come on, I won't hurt you." I almost laughed at that. Did he think I was stupid? "Seriously, kid, this is getting old."

Looking around, I spotted a pile of bricks. Limping over to them, I grabbed one with my good arm and chucked it at Hammer before hiding behind the crates again. There was an "oof" and a groan before Hammer came charging towards me. "What the hell is wrong with you? You threw a brick at me!"

I managed to avoid Hammer's fist the first time, but the second time, he caught me in the ribs. Again. That was getting old real fast. Hammer had wrapped his hands around my throat and was slowly squeezing the life out of. I choked and clawed at his hand in a vain attempt to get him off of me, but it was no use. "Just when I thought I was about to pass out, Hammer's hands were off me and there was air in my lungs again.

I looked over to see Tony beating the pulp out of Hammer. If I hadn't almost died at the hands of the man, I might have felt sorry for him, being on the receiving end of Tony's wrath. I smiled as Tony hit Hammer in the face with an iron hand once more. "Don't touch my little girl!" Each word ended with a punch and I was having a hard time standing up. I thought on my relationship with Tony. He was the closest thing I've ever had to a father, and I liked to think that I'd grown on him in a similar way.

I swayed slightly and then Tony was there, catching me before I could fall. He wrapped his arms around me. "Whoa, slow down, it's okay, I've got you. I'm right here."

The gravity of what had happened to me caught on and I sobbed pitifully into Tony's metal chest. "Shhh, I'm right here, he can't hurt you."

As I drifted into unconsciousness, a word passed through my lips that I long since used. I closed my eyes and leaned into Tony. "Daddy." Then everything went black.

**A/N: So, any thoughts on this chapter? Review and let me know. I'm sorry for the late update, I'm not even going to bother with an excuse since we all know I don't have one. The rest of the Avengers will turn up in the next couple chapters so stick around!**


	8. Waking Up

**A/N: Revised this chapter a bit. I made Cap a bit unrealistically rude before. Thought I ought to fix it.**

A moment later, Tony woke up, sitting completely upright before his eyes were even open, breathing hard. I frowned at him. "Bad dream?"

Tony gazed at me with a grin. "Not anymore."  
I smiled back and Pepper woke up too and fussed over me. Was I comfortable? Did I need anymore pain medication? Was I hungry? Was I thirsty? Did I need another pillow? Was there anything she could do? I laughed and told her that I was fine, but I couldn't help but think that this must be like what having a family is like. This must be like what it is to have parents who care; and oh, dear God had I called Tony 'Daddy'? The grin on his face told me, yes, I had, but for once, the grin wasn't teasing, just happy and… was that love?

I didn't get a chance to further ponder my question because all of a sudden, my room filled with other people. I recognized one as Captain Rodgers and another as Natalie Rushman, or Natasha Romanoff, as it turns out her name actually was. There were a few others I remembered seeing around the Tower following the 'Epic Battle of New York Where Tony Stark Saved the World' as Tony had dubbed it.

Captain had a stuffed bear in his arms that he placed on the table next to my bed. I did my best not to look confused, but some of it must have shown through somewhat because Tony chuckled. "Alice, meet the Avengers. They helped me find you. They were downstairs taking out Hammer's guards while I went up to get you." Tony pointed them out and named them. "That's Cap, but you probably recognize him. That's Natasha, and you probably know her too." As he gestured to a man with black hair and glasses, I grinned. "Isn't that Dr. Banner?"

Tony nodded and I couldn't keep the geek in. "Dr. Banner, it's great to meet you! Your work on anti-electron collisions is absolutely unparalleled!"

Dr. Banner grinned and Captain stared at me with wild eyes. "He cloned himself in girl form."

Agent Barton grinned and chuckled and Agent Romanoff elbowed him in the ribs. "Nothing wrong with being smart."

I raised my eyebrows at the faith, but hey, we girl got to stick together. Tony was laughing. "Anyway, Al, Dr. Banner is going to be staying and working with us."

My eyes widened. "I'm going to get to work with _the_ Dr. Banner?"

Tony chuckled. "Yes, you are. And me too of course."

"Well, yeah, that's a given."

Tony smiled. "Anyway, Alice, these are the Avengers, Avengers, this is my daughter Alice."

There were a few raised eyebrows. Captain gaped. "Daughter? I didn't know you had a daughter." He looked to me. "How old are you?"

I smiled. "I'm seventeen."

"Seventeen? Stark, you have a daughter that's seventeen?"

Tony chuckled and nodded. "Granted, she's adopted, but she my daughter still."

Captain seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "That's good. I pity the kid that grows up raised by you." He blushed as the tone of his words seemed to sink into him.

I frowned at the same time Tony was trying not to punch the Captain. I glared. "What's that supposed to mean? Tony is a great dad. He made sure I had a good birthday when I never celebrated before, he keeps me safe, he's nice, he doesn't hit me or anything. He cares and that is all I can ask for and more. He's what every kid dreams of having for a father."

The Avengers looked at me in shock and I shrugged. "What? I took a speech class over the summer."

This brought a few laughs and Captain apologized to Tony (do I call him Dad?) and said he hadn't meant to be rude, he meant to say that the kid would grow up in the crazy world of its father. "Yeah, you need to work on that, Cap." After a few minutes, a doctor came in and examined me. I had two broken ribs, a broken right wrist, a concussion, a small crack to my skull, and some leftover water in my lungs. In short, I got my butt kicked. Although, according to an officer, Hammer got his butt kicked worse. Four broken ribs, a severe concussion, a broken nose, three broken fingers, and more bruises than can be counted. Give it up for my dad!

The officer took my statement and Dad's (he's Dad, alright!) and my doctor said he wanted me overnight for observation, but then I was free to go home. It's funny; the tower actually feels like home and I love it. According to Dad, all the Avengers will be living with us. My little family is growing.

**A/N: So. Do I stop it there? Do I continue? Review and let me know. It goes without saying that I own absolutely nothing.**


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